Xi visits North Korea for first trip in seven years

Xi Jinping has arrived in Pyongyang for a two-day visit — his first to North Korea since 2019 — to meet Kim Jong-un and reset a relationship strained by pandemic-era trade collapse and Pyongyang's deepening military ties with Russia. Beijing is looking to reassert influence over an ally it officially still holds by treaty but has watched drift closer to Moscow. The visit comes as Kim was recently photographed inspecting munitions at a weapons factory.